Peanut allergy therapy showing promise

LONDON -- An experimental therapy that fed
children with peanut allergies small
amounts of peanut flour has helped
more than 80 percent of them safely eat a handful of the previously worrisome
nuts.

Although experts say the results of the
carefully monitored study are encouraging, they warn it isn't something that
parents should try at home.

Peanut allergies are on the rise
globally and affect about 1 in 50 children, mostly in high-income countries.
The consequences can be life-threatening - peanuts
are the most common cause of fatal food allergy reactions. There is no way to
avoid a reaction other than just avoiding peanuts.
Allergy shots used for environmental triggers like pollen are too risky.

Doctors at Addenbrooke's Hospital in
Cambridge started by giving 99 children aged seven to 16 with severe peanut allergies a tiny 2-milligram dose of a
special peanut flour mixed into their
food. Slowly they increased that amount to 800 milligrams. The dose increases
were given at a research facility where the children were observed for any
dangerous side effects - the most frequent were itchiness in the mouth, stomach
pains or nausea.

After six months of treatment, more than 80
percent of the children can now safely eat five peanuts
at a time.

"This made a dramatic difference to
their lives," said Dr. Andrew Clark of the University of Cambridge in Britain,
who led the research. "Before the study, they could not even tolerate tiny
bits of peanuts and their parents had
to read food labels continuously."

The intention of the treatment isn't to help
kids eat large amounts of peanuts,
but to prevent a life-threatening allergic reaction in case they accidentally
eat trace amounts.

Clark said the treatment works by retraining
the patients' immune systems so they can gradually build up a tolerance to peanuts, though he guessed they might need to
keep taking it for several years. He and colleagues plan to offer the treatment
soon in a special peanut allergy
clinic as well as beginning larger studies.

The study was paid for by Britain's Medical
Research Council and the National Institute for Health Research. It was
published online Thursday in the journal, Lancet.

In an accompanying commentary, Matthew
Greenhawt of the University of Michigan described the study's results as
"exceptionally promising" but predicted the treatment was still
"years away from routine clinical use." He noted that previous
research that used a similar approach for milk allergies had failed and said it
was unknown if the peanut therapy
could produce "lasting tolerance."

Unlike other childhood food allergies,
children rarely outgrow a nut allergy. Schools across Canada and the United
States have taken a host of measures to combat the problem, some airlines have
stopped serving packaged nutsm, and there's been a fierce debate over whether peanut butter should be banned from schools.

Lena Barden, 12, used to suffer serious
swelling and breathing problems after eating just trace amounts of nuts. But
since she joined the study more than two years ago, Barden's tolerance has
grown and she now eats five peanuts a
day. While Barden says she still hates peanuts,
the trial has allowed her to indulge in the previously forbidden nuts.

"I'd never tried a doughnut before I
was 11 because they (could) contain traces of nuts," she said.